OLD ANDREY’S EXPERIENCE AS A MUSICIAN

 ‘I was one of the choir¹-boys at that time, and we and the players were to appear at the manor-house as usual that Christmas week, to play and sing in the hall to the squire²’s people and visitors (among ’em being the archdeacon, Lord and Lady Baxby, and I don’t know who); afterwards going, as we always did, to have a good supper in the servants’ hall.  Andrew knew this was the custom, and meeting us when we were starting to go, he said to us: “Lord, how I should like to join in that meal of beef, and turkey, and plum-pudding, and ale, that you happy ones be going to just now!  One more or less will make no difference to the squire.  I am too old to pass as a singing boy, and too bearded to pass as a singing girl; can ye lend me a fiddle³, neighbours, that I may come with ye as a bandsman?”

 

‘Well, we didn’t like to be hard upon him, and lent him an old one, though Andrew knew no more of music than the Cerne Giant; and armed with the instrument he walked up to the squire’s house with the others of us at the time appointed, and went in boldly, his fiddle under his arm.  He made himself as natural as he could in opening the music-books and moving the candles to the best points for throwing light upon the notes; and all went well till we had played and sung “While shepherds watch,” and “Star, arise,” and “Hark the glad sound.”  Then the squire’s mother, a tall gruff old lady, who was much interested in church-music, said quite unexpectedly to Andrew: “My man, I see you don’t play your instrument with the rest.  How is that?”

 

‘Every one of the choir was ready to sink into the earth with concern at the fix Andrew was in.  We could see that he had fallen into a cold sweat, and how he would get out of it we did not know.

 

‘“I’ve had a misfortune, mem,” he says, bowing as meek⁵ as a child.  “Coming along the road I fell down and broke my bow.”

 

‘“Oh, I am sorry to hear that,” says she.  “Can’t it be mended?”

 

‘“Oh no, mem,” says Andrew.  “’Twas broke all to splinters.”

 

‘“I’ll see what I can do for you,” says she.

 

‘And then it seemed all over, and we played “Rejoice, ye drowsy⁶ mortals all,” in D and two sharps.  But no sooner had we got through it than she says to Andrew,

 

‘“I’ve sent up into the attic⁷, where we have some old musical instruments, and found a bow for you.”  And she hands the bow to poor wretched Andrew, who didn’t even know which end to take hold of.  “Now we shall have the full accompaniment,” says she.

 

‘Andrew’s face looked as if it were made of rotten apple as he stood in the circle of players in front of his book; for if there was one person in the parish that everybody was afraid of, ’twas this hook-nosed old lady.  However, by keeping a little behind the next man he managed to make pretence⁸ of beginning, sawing away with his bow without letting it touch the strings⁹, so that it looked as if he were driving into the tune⁴ with heart and soul.  ’Tis a question if he wouldn’t have got through all right if one of the squire’s visitors (no other than the archdeacon) hadn’t noticed that he held the fiddle upside down, the nut under his chin, and the tail-piece in his hand; and they began to crowd round him, thinking ’twas some new way of performing.

 

‘This revealed everything; the squire’s mother had Andrew turned out of the house as a vile¹⁰ impostor, and there was great interruption to the harmony of the proceedings¹¹, the squire declaring he should have notice to leave his cottage that day fortnight.  However, when we got to the servants’ hall there sat Andrew, who had been let in at the back door by the orders of the squire’s wife, after being turned out at the front by the orders of the squire, and nothing more was heard about his leaving his cottage.  But Andrew never performed in public as a musician after that night; and now he’s dead and gone, poor man, as we all shall be!’

 

‘I had quite forgotten the old choir, with their fiddles¹² and bass-viols,’ said the home-comer, musingly¹³.  ‘Are they still going on the same as of old?’

 

‘Bless the man!’ said Christopher Twink, the master-thatcher; ‘why, they’ve been done away with these twenty year.  A young teetotaler plays the organ in church now, and plays it very well; though ’tis not quite such good music as in old times, because the organ is one of them that go with a winch, and the young teetotaler says he can’t always throw the proper feeling into the tune without wellnigh working his arms off.’

 

‘Why did they make the change, then?’

 

‘Well, partly because of fashion, partly because the old musicians got into a sort of scrape.  A terrible scrape ’twas too—wasn’t it, John?  I shall never forget it—never!  They lost their character as officers of the church as complete as if they’d never had any character at all.’

 

‘That was very bad for them.’

 

‘Yes.’  The master-thatcher attentively regarded past times as if they lay about a mile off, and went on:—

1 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

2 squire   

n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅

参考例句：

• I told him the squire was the most liberal of men.我告诉他乡绅是世界上最宽宏大量的人。
• The squire was hard at work at Bristol.乡绅在布里斯托尔热衷于他的工作。

3 fiddle   

n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动

参考例句：

• She plays the fiddle well.她小提琴拉得好。
• Don't fiddle with the typewriter.不要摆弄那架打字机了。

4 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

5 meek   

adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的

参考例句：

• He expects his wife to be meek and submissive.他期望妻子温顺而且听他摆布。
• The little girl is as meek as a lamb.那个小姑娘像羔羊一般温顺。

6 drowsy   

adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的

参考例句：

• Exhaust fumes made him drowsy and brought on a headache.废气把他熏得昏昏沉沉，还引起了头疼。
• I feel drowsy after lunch every day.每天午饭后我就想睡觉。

7 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

8 pretence   

n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰

参考例句：

• The government abandoned any pretence of reform. 政府不再装模作样地进行改革。
• He made a pretence of being happy at the party.晚会上他假装很高兴。

9 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

10 vile   

adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的

参考例句：

• Who could have carried out such a vile attack?会是谁发起这么卑鄙的攻击呢？
• Her talk was full of vile curses.她的话里充满着恶毒的咒骂。

11 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

12 fiddles   

n.小提琴( fiddle的名词复数 )；欺诈；（需要运用手指功夫的）细巧活动；当第二把手v.伪造( fiddle的第三人称单数 )；篡改；骗取；修理或稍作改动

参考例句：

• He fiddles with his papers on the table. 他抚弄着桌子上那些报纸。 来自辞典例句
• The annual Smithsonian Festival of American Folk Life celebrates hands-hands plucking guitars and playing fiddles. 一年一度的美国民间的“史密斯索尼安节”是赞美人的双手的节日--弹拔吉他的手，演奏小提琴的手。 来自辞典例句

13 musingly   

adv.沉思地，冥想地

参考例句：